Regional Markets

3 Cases
Impact of the intervention
Pro-poor development
RUDI adopts a combined approach to pro-poor development: direct support to farmers
for procurement of inputs and reduction of transaction costs combined with a bottomup
approach, focused on local organisation and social movements. RUDI works with
16,000 smallholder rice-producing households and 2,200 small-scale maize producers.
Traditional smallholders usually have one to five acre plots; small irrigation farmers
own one hectare (2.5 acres), and large irrigation farmers may have as much as five
hectares (12 acres). RUDI focuses on tackling two main challenges: the low prices
offered to farmers and their weak negotiating position. As there are no strong producer
representation at crop markets at local level—villagers lack marketing skills and market
information is not readily available, if at all—RUDI promotes the organisation of
farmers and provides trainings (harvest technologies, marketing skills, branding, and
farm gross margin calculations) to help them secure better prices for their commodities.
Furthermore, farmers established associations in their respective areas to pursue
collective marketing. They also started a warehouse receipt system, allowing farmers to
receive immediate payments for their crops, while the association stores the grains to
take advantage of higher grain prices later in the season.
Gender
RUDI in does not make any specific mention of a gender dimension in their work. The
project talks about small-scale maize and rice producers in general, not making any
distinction between men and women. The project may utilise some aspects of a gendersensitive
approach, but is not a prominent part of its strategy.
Food security
RUDI explicitly focuses on building strategic partnerships and strong business associations,
especially within farming communities. Building relationships within the value
chain seems to be just as important as improving quantity and quality, when it comes to
food security. Strengthening positive relationships between value chain actors can be a
good approach to promoting food security at the level of producers.
Food quality
It was mentioned that there could be a substantial difference in the price of rice
depending on its quality. Rice from Kyela seems to have the highest perceived quality
in Tanzania; however, this distinction is made based on the grade and/or taste of rice
rather than its nutritional quality.
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